Hertha President Kay Bernstein died completely unexpectedly on Tuesday. The second division football team sinks into bewilderment and looks for normality. There is still one big, final dream.
Lots of little lights are burning in the middle of the January snow. A small sea of flowers has formed on the concrete forecourt of the Berlin Olympic Stadium. There is a group of Hertha fans standing in front of it, maybe 50 people. People keep approaching and leaving the silent cluster. Hardly anyone speaks. This place, which can be so indescribably loud, energetic and bustling on game days, is eerily quiet. In the distance you can hear the trains being shunted at the station not a kilometer away.
Hertha fans remember Bernstein.
(Photo: ses)
And now there they are, on this early Wednesday afternoon, in front of the improvised memorial. It’s freezing. They are stunned. Because they mourn Hertha President Kay Bernstein, who died completely unexpectedly and far too early on Tuesday. Hertha logos are emblazoned on their jackets, their hats, their gloves, their backpacks, their scarves. They lay flowers, some are close to tears. There are grave lights between all the bouquets. Some are improvised with glasses and tea lights, and one even has a Union Berlin logo stuck on it. A beer crate now has flowers instead of bottles, and burnt-out pyroscopic torches lie next to it. A note reads: “From the curve to forever in our hearts. Rest in peace.”
Bernstein was not a normal president of a Bundesliga football club. The 43-year-old was one of them: He was the one who came out of the curve – even if he didn’t like this narrative. He literally gave blood for his club. Back then, he financed his away trips with donations, he once told ntv.de. He was a co-founder of the Harlekins, the ultra group that was proud of having driven the Nazis out of the stadium in the early 1990s.
The “Berlin Way”
That was before. At the end of June 2022, the members surprisingly elected him Hertha President. Within a very short time he had put the capital city club, which had rushed through the investor madness and burned through 374 million euros, back on somewhat stable footing. No more promises from the big city club that will soon win the Champions League, but a Hertha for everyone – regardless of where they come from. He had the vision that football should belong to the people.
For Hertha, this meant saying goodbye to expensive transfers, away from the endless bad news, away from the constant embarrassment. Bernstein knew the road was long. In portraits he was repeatedly compared to the Green Party Economics Minister Robert Habeck. The real politician who had to swallow many a toad. In the case of Bernstein, it was a new investor, the US company 777, and the betting provider on the jersey.
Nevertheless, during his short era, many old acquaintances came back. Pal Dardai, Andreas “Zecke” Neuendorf, sports director Benny Weber. Bernstein called this the “Berlin Way.” The club icons helped implement his vision: the young players should no longer leave the club before their professional careers, but rather see their future in Hertha. Just like it used to be. That worked a little. The blue-whites overwintered with a young, exciting team after a difficult start in the second division, six points away from the promotion places. After the turbulent years, something like calm had finally returned. A moment to breathe deeply.
Somehow normality
Then came Bernstein’s death. The entire club environment is still shaken. Also because of the second, the family tragedy that affects many people on the Olympic site. The 43-year-old had only married the previous year and was currently building a house on the eastern outskirts of the city. He died on the birthday of the older of his two daughters. Many people can’t believe it.
But it has to go on, somehow: Hertha starts the second half of the season against Fortuna Düsseldorf on Sunday, and this Wednesday the professional team will train publicly again for the first time, but the press conferences have been canceled. The club decided to keep it public to give fans a space to mourn – a few dozen did.
The team will gradually enter the pitch from 2 p.m. First Weber and coach Dardai, then the rest. Their heads are bowed, no one says more than two words, they are all withdrawn. Those who wanted to speak out have already done so on social media. Captain Toni Leistner made a final promise to the dead president. The path should continue like this. Winger Fabian Reese, who had quickly become an identification figure himself, followed suit. Audience favorite Nader Jindaoui thanked Bernstein for believing in him “when many people wrote me off.”
“There is only one Kay Bernstein”
And while attempts are being made to create something like normality on the field, the two Hertha fans Max and Sven are standing behind the goal. Both of them first met there and describe how much the president’s death shocked them, just as it shocked all of German football. Only later, on the way back, Sven tells us that in his shock he almost forgot his best friend’s birthday. Even Max can’t realize the message yet. “There is only one Kay Bernstein,” he says. There will never be anyone like him again.
but how does it continue? Vice-President Fabian Drescher is temporarily running Hertha’s business. It is unclear whether he will stay until the regular new elections in October or whether there will be early elections at the general meeting in the spring. The Presidium is still able to act and the number of members is sufficient. Will there ever be an inconspicuous man wearing a suit again? The two fans doubt that.
Max, perhaps 30 years old, has only been a supporter of the Blue and Whites for a few years. He lived in Los Angeles for a long time, he says. During the turbulent Windhorst period he came to Berlin and Hertha. He lives only ten minutes away by bike and he watches the public training regularly. He says that there have never been as many as there are today. “It’s usually one or two people.” The 23-year-old Sven, on the other hand, has the classic Hertha socialization: when he was four, his father brought him to Berlin’s Westend, and he has stayed ever since.
The last dream
Both philosophize about what Bernstein has already achieved in his only one and a half years in office. For example, Sven, who has been following this club for almost 20 years, finally became a member last year. Since then, he says, he has felt a connection that he had never felt before. He’s not the only one: Despite the sporting relegation, the Berliners have recently experienced a boom in members and season tickets sold.
Both also talk about this one last dream that they shared with Bernstein. The final of the DFB Cup has taken place in Berlin since 1985. Since then, only one Hertha team has made it to the final: the “Hertha Bubis” affectionately known by fans. In 1993 the second team lost the final against Bayer Leverkusen. A team full of young talents, most of whom came from Berlin – like the team this season. The triumph in the Olympic Stadium at home – it would be the crowning achievement of Bernstein’s “Berlin Way”.
They now have to go this without him. Without Kay Bernstein. Not just because of the cold January snow.